Doane Students Compete in 'Battle of the Brains'

By

Rebecca Svec

November 8, 2010

Doane placed 6th out of schools with enrollments under 2,000 students in the "Battle of the Brains," the 35th annual IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC) on Nov. 6.

There were 225 teams in the North-Central North America region that competed at different sites, and Doane placed 63rd overall. The regional winner was a team from the University of Minnesota that solved eight of nine problems correctly.

The contest is considered the most prestigious computer programming competition of its kind and will include tens of thousands of university students during its preliminary rounds through December.

Doane's team competed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln against 32 regional college teams, where they placed 13th. Teams of three students were given a five-hour deadline to solve real-world problems, applying their computer programming skills. The team that solved the most problems correctly in the least amount of time won a coveted spot on the World Finals roster.

The top 100 teams from around the nation are eligible to attend the World Finals in Egypt. The contest brings together students from 2,000 universities from over 80 countries on six continents.

"The ACM-ICPC brings together the brightest and most innovative young programmers from all over the world. This rich talent pool is the lifeblood of our industry, allowing us to more effectively recruit the types of programmers we need to foster the future growth of our industry," said Dr. Michael Karasick, Vice President of Strategy and Technology at IBM Software Group.